Surgeons often use rods, screws and other devices to support or fix various hard tissues, such as for the fusion of spinal vertebrae during orthopedic surgery. Orthopedic surgeons will also often need to connect or combine two or more adjacent rods to reduce mobility of the spine or other bones. They can use connector blocks to attach rods. Conventional connector blocks, often called “dominoes,” are normally closed through holes in a block held tight with up to four set screws.
Current uses of dominoes include revision surgeries to lengthen existing fixation constructs. Surgeons may also use dominoes to reinforce high stress areas in posterior constructs. Dominoes may also be used for branching to supplement fixation points or as a narrow trans-connector.
Despite the usefulness of dominoes, they are still amendable to some improvements. For example, they can be clumsy or difficult to deploy. Slight bends in the rods can preclude the use of domino connector blocks because of the tight tolerance of the through holes.